Scene information access for electronic device applications

Abstract

Aspects of the subject technology provide for constrained access to scene information by applications running on an electronic device. A system process of an electronic device may assign a region of a physical environment to an application. A user interface of the application may be displayed in the assigned region. The system process may provide scene information and/or user information to the application only when the scene information and/or user information occurs and/or originates within the assigned region, in one or more implementations.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 obtaining, by an electronic device, scene information corresponding to a physical environment of the electronic device; 
 determining a subset of the scene information that corresponds to a portion of the physical environment that has been assigned to an application at the electronic device; and 
 providing the subset of the scene information to the application without providing a remaining portion of the scene information to the application. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the physical environment includes a perceived location of a user interface of the application. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising displaying, by a display of the electronic device, the user interface of the application to appear at the perceived location, remote from the display, within the portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein displaying the user interface of the application to appear at the perceived location within the physical environment comprises:
 receiving user interface information for the user interface at a system process from the application in system units; and 
 determining a scaling between the system units and physical units in the physical environment, based in part on the scene information for the physical environment. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the physical environment comprises a three-dimensional region within the physical environment. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a living being within the portion of the physical environment; and 
 temporarily suspending providing the subset of the scene information to the application while the living being is within the portion of the physical environment. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving from the application, a request for an additional portion of the physical environment; and 
 determining whether the additional portion of the physical environment is available for use by the application. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining whether the additional portion of the physical environment is available for use by the application comprises determining that the additional portion of the physical environment is available for use by the application, the method further comprising:
 displaying additional user interface information for the application to appear at an additional perceived location in the additional portion of the physical environment. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining whether the additional portion of the physical environment is available for use by the application comprises determining that the additional portion of the physical environment is not available for use by the application, the method further comprising:
 providing a notification to the application that the request for the additional portion of the physical environment is denied. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving from the application, a request to modify an additional portion of the physical environment outside of the portion of the physical environment based on content of a user interface of the application; and 
 displaying based in part on content of the user interface, a modification to the additional portion of the physical environment outside of the portion of the physical environment. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein displaying the modification to the additional portion of the physical environment outside of the portion of the physical environment comprises generating, based in part on the content of the user interface and in part on scene information corresponding to the additional portion of the physical environment of the electronic device and without providing the scene information corresponding to the additional portion of the physical environment, modification content for the modification to the additional portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       12. A method, comprising:
 providing, by an application at an electronic device, a request for scene information corresponding to a physical environment of the electronic device; and 
 receiving, by the application, a subset of the scene information, without receiving a remaining portion of the scene information, 
 wherein the subset of the scene information corresponds to a portion of the physical environment that has been assigned to the application, the portion including a perceived location of a user interface of the application. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the request comprises a request for a physical anchor for virtual content generated by the application, wherein the physical anchor exists in the physical environment outside the portion of the physical environment, and wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving, by the application, a different anchor within the portion of the physical environment as the subset of the scene information. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the subset of the scene information comprises a location of a surface a physical object within the portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the subset of the scene information comprises a physical anchor for virtual content generated by the application, the physical anchor located within the portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the subset of the scene information comprises gesture information for a gesture performed by a user of the electronic device within the portion of the physical environment, and wherein the remaining portion of the scene information comprises an other gesture performed by the user of the electronic device outside the portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the subset of the scene information comprises a gaze location within the portion of the physical environment, and wherein the remaining portion of the scene information comprises an other gaze location outside the portion of the physical environment. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 12 , wherein receiving the subset of the scene information comprises receiving the subset of the scene information in an application-specific coordinate system that is different from a global coordinate system of a system process at the electronic device. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising operating the application using the portion of the scene information. 
     
     
       20. A device, comprising:
 a memory; and 
 one or more processors configured to:
 obtain scene information corresponding to a physical environment of the device; 
 determine a subset of the scene information that corresponds to a portion of the physical environment that has been assigned to an application at the device, the portion including a perceived location of a user interface of the application; and 
 provide the subset of the scene information to the application without providing a remaining portion of the scene information to the application.